Remember your cool Lego RV toy?

Do you remember your Lego RV that we out together together when living in the green house in Lancaster? Since you liked both Legos and RVs, it felt like the perfect toy to have!

You were fairly young so only helped me put together part of it. You sure liked playing with it, though!

After a couple of days, though, you started taking it apart. I think you were interested in how it all was put together and kind of wanted to do that again.

That didn't bother me, as I sure could relate to such a desire. When I was about the same age, my dad built this great model railroad set for me. I  had so much fun helping him do it (Though he did most of the work!) that I tore it all apart so we could put it together again!

The downside of taking apart the Lego RV, though, was that parts would get lost so that I couldn't put it back together! The instructions also couldn't be easily followed because the parts taken off didn't match the order in which they were put on!

Your favorite 'Star Trek' cartoon

One of your favorite "Star Trek" cartoons to watch on DVD was the episode "Yesteryear." The story was about Mr. Spock as a seven-year-old, undergoing a major test...which an older Mr. Spock who's traveled into the past must help him with.

While it was a well-written episode, as a preschooler I doubt you liked it for the finer points of its plot and character construction! I suspect you enjoyed it because the main character was a little boy, just like you, and you could identify with that character!

You also like the first "Star Wars" movie, "The Phantom Menace" a lot because it was about a little boy, a young Anakin Skywalker. And Jonny Quest - the story of a young boy and his faithful friend, Hadji - also were your faves to watch!

I'd love to hear your memories of what "Yesteryear" was about - your favorite scenes, the memorable images from it! Here is some more about the episode.

My email to you for June 8, 2013

Here is my email sent to you on June 8, 2013, in case you do not receive it:

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing today? I’m doing fine, though I miss you more than anything! I am looking forward to seeing you in just two weeks, on June 21. We also should be able to start seeing each other every other week after that.

How has your first two weeks of summer school gone? What stuff is the teacher covering in our classes? Have you read any interesting books in class? Are many of your friends back in summer school, too? Do you have new classmates for summer school? So many questions, I know! But you are the most important person in the world to me, so I want to know everything about you!

I purchased some new fun “Star Trek” stuff for us to play with when we get together. Some of them are the Lego characters. Another is a set of models of the spaceships from the show. The models snap together, and we should have a lot of fun building and playing with them. Have you seen the new “Star Trek” movie yet?

There are a whole bunch of great movies coming out this summer that I’d bet you love to see. “Monsters University” (the follow-up to “Monsters Inc.” – remember when we used to go on that ride at California Adventure?) comes out on June 21. “The Lone Ranger” (Remember when we used to play Sheriff Jack and the Deputy?) comes out on July 3. Finally, “Disney’s Planes” (It’s like “Cars” except the main characters are airplanes!) comes out on August 9. Hopefully, you will get to go to each of these movies, as they all sound like lots of fun.

Now that’s summer here, I bet you’re enjoying spending time outdoors! I didn’t receive a response to the email I sent to you last week, so I will have to ask again how the bicycle riding is coming along? I bet you’ve got it down already! If not, don’t worry – you’ll get better with practice. Be sure to wear a helmet when you go bicycle riding, though; if the bike crashes, and you don’t have a helmet on, you could get hurt!

I will be outdoors a lot as well this summer, hiking trails in the Northwoods. My latest hiking book is doing well, so I’ve decided to write a follow-up to it. There are some neat trails that go over ancient volcanic rock, to waterfalls, and past beautiful lakes and rivers in the Northwoods. I always liked going hiking with you in the Angeles National Forest when we were together and sure wish we were allowed to be together this summer to explore all the neat places Minnesota and Wisconsin have to offer.

I found a new book you might like to get from the library! It’s called “Interrupting Chicken” by David Ezra Stein. It’s all about this young chicken who keeps interrupting everybody! Do you know of anyone who interrupts someone? It’s not very nice of them, is it?

Well, that is all for now. I miss and love you very much and can’t wait to see you on June 21!

Love,

Dad

Remember watching Sprout?

Sprout host Nina and Star.

About the only television programming I'd let you watch during the day when you were a preschooler was public television. Living in Los Angeles County, we got two PBS stations and on cable got their Sprout network.

You loved the Sprout network and its great commercial-free kids programs. There was "Kipper," about a dog who went on all kinds of adventures, and "Fireman Sam," a show about firemen who were always solving all kinds of non-fire problems. "Calliou" was among your favorites as well, especially when you both were four years old, or the same age!

You definite favorite show, though was "Thomas the Train," which always came on at 3:55 p.m. Monday through Friday. You had this internal clock that told you when 3:55 was approaching, and just before the show, you'd come and get me. We always sat in the recliner with you on my lap and watched the show together!

Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's anniversary

Today is Grandma and Grandpa Bignell's anniversary. They have been married 48 years! That's a long time!

They met in spring 1964 while on a high school class field trip in Madison, Wis. They went to different schools but during the field trip ended up in the same elevator together! The next year, they got married!

They lived a few different places as getting their footing, but since March 1974 they've lived on their farm outside of Knapp, Wis.

I wish you were here to enjoy the anniversary celebration with them. They do, too. They took care of your for several months from mid-December 2007 through early September 2008. We all look forward to the day when we can be together again as a family.

Here's a link about them on our family website.

Recall our visit to historic Fort Tejon?

At the First Sergeant's desk in the barracks.

Three years ago today, we went to the Fort Tejon State Historical Park north of Santa Clarita, Calif. You loved it!

The park is a collection of historical buildings, with exhibits and displays, from when an Army fort was at the site in the 1850s. The day we were there, several re-enactors also were on hand demonstrating how people lived during those times.

One of your favorite things to do there was to "play" Army and "Star Wars" in the buildings. You looked at them as a giant playground!

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our adventure!

What we did two years ago today

June 4, 2011, California Adventure

Two years today we spent the day in Disneyland!

I had just moved to San Diego and so didn't have a lot of money - one thing I did have, though, were our annual passes to Disneyland! So we started using them every weekend we were together until I got a few more dollars into my account.

We went to Fantasyland, Toontown, and Tom Sawyer's Island. That afternoon, we headed over to California Adventure for the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail! One of the cool things you did at the chellenge trail was the tire swing!

Here are some pictures from our day!